PUTRAJAYA: The Environmentally-Friendly Drainage Master Plan (PISMA) will be adopted in land development to tackle the issue of flash floods in the country, according to the Local Government Development Ministry (KPKT).
The adoption of PISMA, which was formulated by the Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Ministry through the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID), is among the matters agreed to at the 41st Meeting of the National Physical Planning Council (NPPC) chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim here yesterday (Apr 17).
"PISMA is seen as one of the solutions in dealing with the issue of flash floods in the country," KPKT said in a statement issued in conjunction with the meeting.
It said the ministry will also issue the PISMA adoption order in the land development process, especially in the planning approval process and the review of local plans.
Also agreed upon at the meeting was the proposal to strengthen the poultry farming industry through the adoption of the Poultry Farm Planning Guidelines provided by KPKT through the Department of Town and Country Planning (PLANMalaysia).
KPKT said the proposal involves the implementation of JKPTG Circular No. 1/2003 to facilitate the process of developing poultry farms from the aspect of land affairs where the state authorities (PBN) are recommended to provide special guidelines for the implementation of the circular.
Apart from that, the One Stop Centre (OSC) 3.0 Plus procedures will be further improved by reducing the number of agencies to be referred to for approval from 19 to five.
KPKT said the NPPC also accepted the proposal to designate 10 per cent of the land area of Peninsular Malaysia and the Federal Territory of Labuan as a national food resources area consisting paddy field and permanent food production parks and an aquaculture industry zone.
It said this is important to increase the Self-Sufficiency Rate (SSR) of agro-food production and reduce dependence on imported food sources.
"The meeting also agreed that the 10 per cent should also take into account the land contribution from Sabah and Sarawak," it said.
The NPPC also suggested that focus be given to increasing agro-food productivity rather than increasing the area of agricultural land, especially for states with large agricultural areas, it added. – Bernama